


Weekly Shounen Jump Luffy-kun

by Kamu



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Mangaka!Luffy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-30
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-10-12 21:06:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10499466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kamu/pseuds/Kamu
Summary: Luffy will get One Piece (to be popular) someday.





	1. Luffy

**Author's Note:**

> Basically, this is one glorified Gekkan Shoujo AU, except canon One Piece is...itself, lol.
> 
> Also I had the fic title changed bc the previous one was so uncreative.

It was always a dream in the back of his mind, despite the years that passed between meeting Shanks and actually acting on it.

“I’m gonna do it,” Luffy said to himself in the middle of the art supplies store.

He inhaled the smell of acrylic and pine. As he headed toward the paints, the smells changed to ink and clay.

The things he would usually get were easy to find as Shanks himself had shown him the necessary tools when showing him how to do basic penmanship with a fountain pen.

This time, he turned away from his favorite aisle, but not before he took a quick peek at the new stock of calligraphy ink on display.

If Luffy got over eager and accidentally spilled a bottle of washable ink onto the floor, then no one was the wiser.

The cashier jumped when Luffy not-so-gently placed his short list of items on the counter. They eyed Luffy’s stained hands as he beamed at them while they rung up his things.

“That will be XXXXXX yen.”

The cashier looked up and found no customer.

Two blocks away, Luffy sighed.

“I have literally no money for my dreams!”

Thus was the case for the modern seventeen-year-old teenager.

xXx

Two days later, Luffy and an older youth with freckles in an office worker’s suit stomped into the same art supplies store.

“Lu, you are so nitpicky when it comes to these things!” the older youth reprimanded. “If you needed money, all you had to do was ask.”

Luffy dug in his heels and frowned. “That money is for the bills and your meds, Ace. I can’t take that,” he said.

“It is _my_ money. I can do whatever I please, and that means buying you the basic tools you need to get started,” Ace shot back. He gently picked up a shopping basket and began aggressively taking random things off the shelves.

“No, no, no, yes, no, _no,”_ Luffy said to each item, putting them back where they came from.

“Here, then,” Ace huffed, shoving the basket at him.

Luffy reluctantly took it and headed toward the opposite side of the store.

“Oh, come on,” Ace groaned. He had underestimated what it took to fulfill Luffy’s dream.

“I’m done!” Luffy said not a moment later.

“That was too fast!” Ace said, walking over to him. “You were making such a fuss earlier, too.”

“Well, you go back to work in half an hour, and the nice person at the register already had my stuff!” Luffy explained, gesturing to a man with a crooked nose sitting grumpily at the counter.

“Did you say nose?!” the man spat angrily.

“No, I said nice!” Luffy said.

“Oh.” The man slowly rung up Luffy’s items. “Hey, weren’t you that snot-nosed brat that spilled ink everywhere? There were footprints leading to the register two days ago.”

Luffy stiffened and whistled suspiciously. “Eeeh, what washable ink spill in aisle 5?” he said unconvincingly.

“So it was actually you?!” the man and Ace exclaimed, the latter hitting Luffy on the back of his head.

“We apologize. Add the ink to the receipt if you need to,” Ace said, bowing and forcing Luffy to do the same.

The man, whose name tag read “Buggy”, sniffed and crossed his arms. “Whatever. It’s not my store, but I’ll add the damaged item to your purchases anyways,” Buggy said.

“Thank you,” Ace said. He dug out his credit card upon looking at the total price of everything. “Holy shit, this is a lot for so little.”

“I need practice,” Luffy supplied helpfully.

Ace sighed and accepted his fate. This was all for Luffy’s dream. Being a little short on groceries for a while would be worth it. And judging by the looks of longing Luffy kept casting at the pens, Ace knew they would be back for more.

Buggy seemed to understand that, too. He had a look of dread as he regarded Luffy.

“Kid, please do not go by the inks on your own from now on, okay? That shit is hard to wash off. I ruined a good mop, you know?” he warned.

“Sure!” Luffy chirped.

“Your friend doesn’t have an inside voice?” Buggy asked Ace, jabbing a thumb toward the bouncing Luffy.

“My brother wasn’t born with it, no,” Ace said as he took the plastic bag of Luffy’s things. Noticing Luffy was wandering toward the watercolors, Ace grabbed the back of Luffy’s shirt. “Hey, we’re done here. Let’s go, kiddo.”

“You are literally only three years older than me,” Luffy grumbled.

“A baby brother will always be a baby brother,” Ace replied with a fond smile.

The two brothers walked arm and arm into the rain.

Thus began the official (?) start to Luffy’s journey to becoming the Best Mangaka of All Time.


	2. Disciplinary Dog Roronoa Zoro

Luffy had one requirement for accepting someone into his life.

(It went without saying this automatically meant they were friends, but Luffy didn’t like to waste words on things people should already know.)

“Are you good with your hands?” Luffy asked from his perch on top of the school gates.

The teenager standing beneath the blistering heat of the afternoon sun glared at him from under his black bandana. Luffy grew star-eyed at the kendo uniform and the green _haramaki_ cinched at his waist.

“Huh? Who are you?” his future assistant demanded. Luffy noticed his cheeks had gone pink beneath the sweat glistening on his skin.

“I’m Monkey D. Luffy and I’m talking to you,” Luffy said, pointing at him.

“I know _that.”_ The teenager shifted his head from side to side to indicate the empty school yard.

“How good are you?” Luffy repeated.

He watched the teenager break his stance for a second then right himself rigidly. The muscles in his upper thighs were twitching in what had to be cramps from standing for hours. The last time Luffy saw him was from the gap in the gates earlier that morning.

“Well enough, I’d say. I practice _kenjutsu,”_ the teenager offered hesitantly. “What’s it to you, kid?”

Luffy laughed. Another kid calling him a kid was hilarious!

“Nothing, really. I just need some help with something is all,” Luffy explained vaguely with a secretive smile.

“You expect me to do anything for you for free? I,” the teenager took a moment to rasp around a dry throat, “barely know you.”

“Aw, that’s true,” Luffy agreed. They were strangers of two parts of two different worlds. It was obvious from the teenager’s drenched uniform that he went to the school here. Meanwhile, Luffy wore his standard casual outfit of cut-off jean shorts and a sleeveless red shirt.

Of course, Luffy could never go anywhere without his treasured straw hat.

“Then, why are you asking?” the teenager huffed with visible effort.

Luffy leapt down from his perch and walked to stand in front of the teenager. He looked him up and down and beamed, thrusting out his hand.

“Because I know two things about you!” Luffy said.

The teenager burst out laughing. He was quickly interrupted with a coughing fit.

“Is that right?” the teenager challenged.

Luffy nodded and dropped his hand when he showed no action to take it. He raised two fingers instead, bringing down one. “One, you’re about to keel over any second from heat stroke.” He put down the remaining finger happily. “Two, you absolutely want to be anywhere but here, Roronoa Zoro!”

“Oh.” Zoro swayed like a pendulum, which Luffy found particularly amusing until he was falling and it was slightly less funny. “So you know the future.”

Luffy hauled the slumping teenager against his shoulder and took a closer look at his tough-looking hands. The bumps on his palms showed constant use while the ridges along his fingers, especially on the left hand, told another story.

He gazed curiously down at Zoro as the left-handed _kenjutsu_ practitioner grunted out a soft, “Oi,” to get his attention.

“What’s up?” Luffy said.

“If you fetch my _shinai_ from that helmet head with daddy issues, I’ll help you out,” his future best friend and assistant said with a weak but feral grin.

Luffy would claim to anyone who asked: in that moment, he fell for Zoro(‘s skill as a cleaner).

“Shishishi! That I can do. Just tell me where, and I’ll get it,” Luffy said.

Zoro grunted as Luffy dumped him in the shade by the gates.

“They’re stored in the teacher’s lounge. The dean might’ve took ‘em and put them in the kendo club’s dojo, where Helmet Head makes his lair.” Something in Zoro’s stomach groaned and he closed his eyes. They snapped open when they heard a commotion directly behind him on the other side of the wall. “What now?”

Luffy scaled the wall and peered over the edge.

“It’s a kid and a kid,” Luffy informed.

The little girl and chubby teenage boy with pink hair squawked indignantly.

“You’re a kid, too!” they exclaimed.

“Watcha doin’?” Luffy asked as he splayed his arms out and let his legs dangle.

“I’m gonna feed the nice big brother for saving me from Helmeppo’s wolf dog two days ago,” the little girl said, lifting up a twin pair of messily packed _onigiri._

“Food?” Luffy looked to Zoro. So the growling noise was Zoro’s stomach.

“And I said, you shouldn’t do that!” the boy shouted. “Feeding the Disciplinary Dog means not only getting your hand bit, but your whole arm mangled, too!”

“Are you D-Dawg?” Luffy asked the practitioner, ignoring the squeak of terror and the yip of surprise from below.

“D-Dawg...?” Zoro stared incredulously at him, then sighed. “I guess that’s me.”

Luffy nodded. “Cool. Be my cleaner.”

“W-w-wait, wait, wait! Don’t tell me...is this brick wall the only thing separating me and the certain death that is Disciplinary Dog Roronoa Zoro of Shells’ Academy?” the chicken boy stuttered.

“Hmm...I guess I won’t tell you? Should I, Zoro?” Luffy asked.

Zoro shrugged. “I dunno.”

Shells Academy was the place his Gramps wanted Luffy to enroll in a few years back, but gave up after realizing the school didn’t have enough of the curriculum he wanted Luffy to take to be a great police officer. Maybe Luffy should rethink his proposal? Gramps’ jurisdiction technically fell under Shells’ district sometimes, depending on his commanding chief’s mood and willingness to give his grandfather a break from the real police work.

“Oi! What’s this about a cleaner?” Zoro yelled, Luffy’s words finally registering.

Luffy and the boy ignored him. “H-h-has Disciplinary Dog been listening this whole t-t-time?” the boy asked, knees trembling.

“Uh-huh.” Luffy grinned and jumped over the wall to stand in front of the cowering boy. “You’re funny.”

“I don’t kill people!” Zoro went on unheard and unseen as a disembodied voice.

“Eep!” The boy fell flat on his ass for whatever reason, staring at something in the shadows of a nearby alley way.

Luffy frowned and leapt back over the wall.

“Will you listen to me?!” Zoro shouted. He nearly bit his tongue as Luffy dropped lightly next to him.

“Wow, you sure are energetic. Aren’t you hungry? If I were you, I’d die after two hours of no food,” Luffy said.

“Big brother!” They looked over to find the girl had squeezed her way through the school gate bars and now stood before them. “Eat this, quick! Before Helmet comes back!”

Zoro looked down at the _onigiri_ expressionlessly.

Luffy glanced between them, oblivious to the tension and too focused on the sweet-smelling snack in her hands.

“Please,” the girl repeated wetly.

Zoro shook his head. “I don’t go back on my word,” he said and turned away.

The girl bit her lip to keep from shaking. She left the way she came, out through the gate and down the street. The way she took off was toward a nice family-owned restaurant Luffy had been meaning to stop by that day.

“Can you help me?” Luffy said to Zoro, referring to his earlier question.

Zoro slumped against the wall, making a great imitation of a slime.

“Not now,” he mumbled before he fell asleep right there in the school yard.

“Okay,” Luffy said.

And that was that.

Luffy supposed all he could do now was visit that restaurant…? His inner clock was screaming for a lunchtime buffet!

 

* * *

 

Luffy stopped the second he felt eyes on him.

“Hey, kid.”

A teenager wearing a severely outdated delinquent ensemble in Shells’ colors beckoned him over. After belching from his earlier noon feast, Luffy followed without question but toed where the light met the shadows of the alley way.

“Boss wants a word with ya,” the delinquent grumbled. He took half a step out so Luffy could see the metal bat he had in his hand. “Come quietly. No one needs to get hurt. You get me?”

Luffy smiled.

The delinquent let out a snort and attempted to grab him, expecting little to no resistance.

“Wha?” The delinquent found himself short of breath and coughing up spit as he dropped to his knees.

“I need to convince Zoro to join my gang. I’ll come back later, okay?” Luffy lowered his palm and crossed the street to the school.

The delinquent struggled to stay conscious. “A-Alvida! I need to tell...someone,” he gasped, fumbling with a disposable phone from deep within his pockets.

The call connected after a faint eight rings. In that time, the delinquent finally processed the reason for his collapse. Like other nameless victims before him, Luffy’s actions were too sudden and precise to fully take in at first glance.

A moment before, the lanky kid had a deadly palm full of bandages wrapped around his entire hand.

The delinquent had a brief second of appreciation for the execution of the kid’s palm thrust, reminiscent of a certain martial artist from the many action star movies he used to watch without adult supervision.

“Whaaat?!” A low, yet vaguely feminine voice barked from the receiver.

“Bad news, boss. We’ve got a loose cannon on our turf! He tried messing with our errand boy and then the cannon assaulted me from outta nowhere! We need your almighty power mace, stat!”

“Don’t you tell your beautiful mistress what to do!” Alvida cried. “But alright! Where is this cannon you speak of?”

“Yes, Alvida-sama! He’s headed toward Shells Academy.” The delinquent felt he should add the alarming tidbit for their safety. “I believe he is enlisting the aid of ‘Disciplinary Dog’ Zoro to rack up his fighting power…”

“...So this brat intends on starting a full out war with the Alvida gang? So be it. Disciplinary Dog needs to be taken out anyways. We can nip that bud before he blooms into something worthy of overpowering every gang in East Blue.” Alvida cackled and signaled the surrounding gang members to move out. “Stay right where you are. We’ll come and get you once school is let out.”

“Why so long, Alvida-sama?” After school would be three hours from now.

“Are you kidding? Vice-principal Morgan might be doing courtyard duty today! I’m not gonna risk my ass just because some snot-nosed brat decided to beat yours into the ground,” Alvida scoffed.

“Y-Yes, boss!”

Luffy whistled worry-free back toward Shells Academy, unaware of the chaos that would unfold due to extending his hand out to one Roronoa Zoro.

 

* * *

 

“Hey! Zoro, sup!” Luffy waved at the other teen, who sighed upon sighting Luffy.

“You never quit, do you?” Zoro said.

Luffy stood a respectable distance from Zoro, imitating Zoro’s cross-armed stance with a smile.

“You didn’t say no,” Luffy said cheekily.

Zoro stared. His kendo uniform was long dry from sweat and he reeked, which might have been why Luffy stood where he did. The material and the _haramaki_ clung uncomfortably to his skin in parts where he continued to perspire. His face was unbearably on fire and talking was irritating his throat like hell. His bottom lip had cracked and it burned, he was so darn thirsty.

“What did you promise?” Luffy asked suddenly. At Zoro’s inquiring eyebrow, Luffy puckered his lips, thinking back to earlier. “You know, the reason why you won’t help me? What did Helmo promise you?”

Zoro licked his lips. He tasted blood. “He promised not to tell the dean about my part-time job, as long as I endured three whole days without water. He took my _shinai_ so I wouldn’t back out.” He secretly thanked he had a bladder of steel, or else another foul odor would be added to the mix.

“Why? Don’t you need the money?” Luffy tilted his head. School rules were weird. Why couldn’t they do this, why couldn’t they do that? To think his Gramps wanted Luffy to be the enforcer of these “laws”!

“I do need it, but the dorms don’t allow scholarship students to work outside of curfew,” Zoro growled. He smirked. It ended up feeling like a grimace. “This is my last day.”

Something clicked in Luffy’s mind. “That’s not all there is to it,” Luffy stated.

“Yeah.” Zoro narrowed his eyes. The kid was quick to catch on despite how he looked. “The girl’s family owns the restaurant down the road. Helmeo caught me in the middle of my shift.” Now that Zoro really thought about it, Daddy Issues shouldn’t have been out that late, either. Third shift was a hell of a time to be out at night.

“He followed you,” Luffy said.

Zoro said nothing and closed his eyes, casually dismissing Luffy.

Luffy watched him for a moment and then stretched his arms out wide with a satisfied cry.

“What’s wrong with you?” Zoro asked, cracking open an eye warily.

Luffy laughed. “I decided! I’ll get your stick and then you can do whatever you want!” he declared. Luffy tipped the straw hat so that it covered his eyes. “That’s no promise, Zoro. That’s a pointless way to die!”

Luffy saluted Zoro and strode toward the school, arms swinging.

Zoro’s eyes followed him in shock, mouth agape. “Are you fucking crazy? You don’t even go here! Morgan will turn you in for trespassing!” he said.

“Not if they catch me,” Luffy said.

Zoro almost broke out of his stance. What fucking idiot logic—!

“Fine! See if I care,” Zoro muttered, returning to facing the school gates.

The echo of Luffy’s “shishishi!” grew fainter as Luffy made his way across the unknown campus. He was again unaware of the dangers he would face, if he was an ordinary teenager.

Fortunately, Luffy was not an ordinary teenager.

Fortunately, Luffy had an incredible power…

...The power of imagination…!

...And also the years long training of the most physically “tough love” Gramps in the entire universe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next part will conclude Zoro's mini-arc.


End file.
